G. GENERAL NATURAL HISTORY AND ZOOLOGY. 285 



EFFECT OF TOBACCO ON MAN AND ANIMALS. 



Dr. Lebon, of Paris, has given a great deal of attention to 

 the question of the effect of tobacco upon man and animals, 

 and has lately presented a report on the subject to the Med- 

 ico-Chirurgical Society of Liege. Among the conclusions 

 which the author has reached in the course of his research- 

 es, the following may be mentioned as most important: 1. 

 Smokers, and persons who, without smoking, are enveloped 

 in an atmosphere of tobacco-smoke, absorb for each quantity 

 of ten grammes of tobacco a proportion of nicotine varying 

 from some centigrammes to a gramme. They absorb also 

 about an equal amount of ammonia. 2. The quantity of to- 

 bacco consumed daily by a single individual addicted to its 

 use is scarcely less than twenty grammes. A smoker is there- 

 fore liable to absorb daily a quantity of nicotine which may 

 reach twenty-five centigrammes, with an equal proportion of 

 ammonia. 3. Of all kinds of smoking, the most dangerous is 

 that of smoking a cigar or cigarette and swallowing the 

 smoke ; the least dangerous is that of smoking a nargile, or 

 pipe with a long tube, in the open air. 4. The effect produced 

 by the result of the condensation of tobacco-smoke is analo- 

 gous to that of nicotine. Nevertheless, there must be added 

 the effects produced by the ammonia, which the smoke con- 

 tains in considerable quantity. 5. The resinous semi-liquid 

 which condenses in the interior of the pipe contains a consid- 

 erable proportion of nicotine. It is little less poisonous than 

 nicotine itself, and rapidly destroys the life of animals ex- 

 posed to its action. 6. The liquid product which condenses 

 in the lungs and mouth of the smoker contains water, am- 

 monia, nicotine, fatty and resinous bodies, and coloring mat- 

 ters. A dose of one drop of this speedily produces paralysis 

 of motion in small animals, and a state of apparent death. 

 These effects quickly disappear, but death actually super- 

 venes if the dose is carried up to several drops. If, instead 

 of administering the liquid internally, the animal is made to 

 breathe it for some time, it dies all the same. In this last 

 case the effects seem due in a great measure to the presence 

 of ammonia. 7. In a dose of a single drop dangerous results 

 are not produced upon large animals, but those of small size 

 are killed instantaneously. Among the effects observed the 



